Chosen Fate
by Sgt.Mufflebuns
Summary: On the top of Temporal Tower, the odds were against them...and the odds were correct. A Mystery Dungeon bad-end for Explorers of Sky/Time/Darkness.


_"Aggggh!"_

A Vulpix and a Riolu were nearly blown away from another Roar of Time, and the two of them cried out in pain, but barely held out against the ruthless attack from the Dialga. They did their best to remain steadfast on the ancient stone tower, but they were just about to run out of steam entirely, the two of the panting and limping heavily after the attack.

The atmosphere shone with intensity as the final climax of the world was upon them...but the intensity began to fade out. It wasn't because they were about to win. No...they were about to lose. The weight of the world rested upon on their shoulders, and they were about to stumble and fall from the pressure.

Despite all their preparation, despite the hardships with the guild, despite Grovyle's sacrifice...there was nothing they could do against the rampaging Dialga. They stocked up for the final fight, and gave everything they had into defeating Dialga to restore time to its proper course. Never before had their devotion and skill had been so far on the line, and they still went in with everything they've got.

And now...they had run all out. Dialga maintained its rampage. They weren't any closer to the altar. The tremors got worse. Dread crept up their spines terrifyingly so as Dialga hardly seemed to be hurt by their firepower.

6 Reviver Seeds. 8 Oran Berries. They'd emptied everything they had in storage for their fight. Dialga was unrelenting the whole battle, constantly shooting out intense waves of temporal and draconic energy at them. Over and over again, they fainted, but they pushed onward, trying their best to damage and cause the time guardian to faint. Their supplies dwindled more and more as time slowly came to a close...

Morale lowered as they hit 3 Reviver Seeds. They'd just need to attack more. Two more Reviver Seeds. They needed to be more cautious, now. One Reviver Seed. They had to take it out as quickly as they could before-

Zero Reviver Seeds. No Oran Berries.

What do they do?

The Riolu panted out of sheer fatigue, trying his best to stay standing after enduring another Roar of Time, still being as adamant as he could, but he could already feel fear and disaster beginning to cloud his thoughts. He looked over to his side to see his trusted partner, Vulpix, in the same, terrible condition he faced with, staring wearily at the Dialga.

"V-Vulpix...we need to...attack...now!" he said, taking a deep breath, and mustering as much of his focus as he could into forming an Aura Sphere. His breathing deteriorated from the stress, and he shouted again. "Come on!" he said, his voice filled with desperation, his heart pounding as there truly was no time to waste at all now. There was only a short window of time before Dialga charged up its intense attacks again. The tremors nearly took him off-balance, but he held onto his focus for their final last-ditch effort.

"R...right! I...just need to...charge is all!" she said panting. She opened her mouth, staring at the Dialga wearily, before focusing on unleashing the strongest Fire Blast she's created before. This would burn her out...but at this moment, it would be now or never. Nothing else they threw at them did much...this was it.

"Now!" the Riolu shouted after a few seconds had passed, and the two attacks flew directly towards the controller of time itself. The Dialga watched as the two powerful attacks struck against it, roaring in pain as it stumbled backwards from the hit. The attacks were quite strong, but their only moment of opportunity to try this was in between the Dialga's resting periods after a Roar of Time.

And there weren't enough attacks for that.

There was no way they could match up against this anymore. The attacks, despite making a dent in the steel on the Dialga, did nothing more than enrage it further in its state. The two of them took a step back, their hearts sinking even further in disbelief at how little they've done, before finally, the legendary began to deal the finishing blow.

With a loud screech from the Dialga emanating with temporal energy, the final shockwave shot through the air. The temporal energy began to even disrupt time itself, some of the rubble thrown up by the blast pausing in mid-air for a moment. The two of them watched in horror as the Dialga launched the attack, panicking as they were truly powerless to stop it.

"G-Get dow- urrrgh!" there was nothing the two helpless Pokemon could do as they cried out in copious amounts of pain, the two of them sent flying into the air from the sheer power of the attack, and from how weakened they were at this point. There was simply no way for them to hold on any longer.

The two of them impacted against the roof of the tower with a resounding thud, sliding roughly against the rocks and pebbles that had accumulated on the peak. The two of them were barely conscious and on the verge of fainting, panting and coughing harshly in pain.

The fighting type's body burned and brimmed with pain, no Reviver Seeds activating to force him back up, and even as his mind tried to force him to get up, to not to give up, his body screamed against him. It pushed against his will to overcome and persevere. He had done that before so many times before, in moments less vital as this one...

So...why...couldn't he move…now?

"O-Orell…" spoke up the Vulpix, barely managing to turn her head towards her friend. Her voice was shrouded in pain and sorrow, quiet sniffling being heard from her. "I...I can't move at all...m-my body...it can't…"

"I...I can't...move either...N-No…" the Riolu continued to try put himself on a knee as he clenched his teeth from the pain, his legs wobbling like a Ditto, before he eventually collapsed again with a small thud. "D-Damn...it!"

"N-No!" she shouted weakly, tears beginning to drip down her face. "Orell...y-you...can't force yourself anymore…!"

His breathing became erratic and unstable, struggling to compose himself at all. "I...I...no, no, no! I...can't give up Vulpix! Not when Dialga…" he trailed off, looking at the huge dragon staring at them with insignificance. The dragon let out a roar of victory straight into the air, mind completely gone from the fact that the two of were supposed to save it, and not harm it.

"Orell...w-we are just as helpless as we were against D-Dusknoir at first...there's...nothing we can do..." she coughed harshly, groaning and sniffling as her tears continued down. "T-There's no way we can go on now...G-Grovyle was...wrong…"

"No! That...that can't be…!" Orell tried to muster his nonexistent strength, but nothing came to him. T-There has to be a way...I...I can't…just!" tears eventually swelled in Orell's eyes, and he slumped down completely onto the floor. "T-Time…it can't just-"

"Orell...y-you've always pushed on forward...b-but now...I've...we've completely failed..." she said in despair, her tears absorbing into her fur. "I...I thought we could do this! Grovyle...said I could push on! But, now I...I've…"

"Don't...say that...Vulpix…" he muttered, feeling tears beginning to trickle silently into his fur as well. "W-We...did our best…"

"B-But it wasn't enough!" she shouted out, fully bursting into tears and wailing in sorrow. "We...couldn't...we lost! And now...n-now...our world...the future…we promised we could finish our mission for everyone...and now we couldn't even..."

She suddenly groaned in pain, her tears slowing as he couldn't even stare at the Riolu anymore, her strength leaving her body entirely. "Ngh...I'm...too weak…nothing we did…was enough."

"V-Vulpix...p-please, stick with me, damn it!" he said exasperated, barely managing to crawl his way closer to her, despite his body protesting once more. "I...I can't let…I need you to stay with me…"

"...I...I don't want to die…" the Vulpix confessed, causing the Riolu's heart to sink even further as he stared hopelessly at her. "...but...I can't...Orell...I..."

Her words slowly faded out as she uttered his name, her sniffling and crying stopping completely. Her eyes slowly slipped shut as she began to faint, fatigue overwhelming her, leaving Orell alone to face the inevitable.

"Vulpix...no!" he cried out, his tears increasing in intensity, nearly at his breaking point too. "Please! Not when...it...really counts!" begged Orell, but the Vulpix said nothing in response. She was still breathing, but only shallowly, and as the tremors increased in strength and viciousness...it didn't seem like it'd be like that for long.

Orell was silent, looking over at his fallen companion with grief and disbelief. He was now wallowing in his tears alone, and he clenched his eyes and teeth shut, banging his paw against the ground, only causing even more pain to sear through him. His breathing became even more ragged and battered, anguished and driven to despair, and he broke.

"G-Grovyle...w-was all of t-that...truly for n-nothing…?" he said, his mouth barely opening in between sobs as he spoke those words, before shutting his eyes from exhaustion. He continued to sob as he could still hear Dialga growling and roaring...but it wasn't coming any closer to them. It knew it had been victorious, and their demise was all but inevitable.

"You and me...and now Vulpix...we were supposed to be...the defenders of time. Change the...future…" he whispered, blindly scooting next to the downed Vulpix. He pushed past the pain and agony that came with even moving. Tears continued to trail down his face, feeling complete within despair and pain after moving.

"We made a promise...and yet...we couldn't keep it. The...the time gears...just needed to be set..."

He wrapped an arm around her, pressing his head down into her fur to dry his tears. He feebly opened his eyes, pulling open her bag to reveal the green, shimmering time gears. They were the part of the clock that held the hope for stability. The hope for the world...just a dozen or so meters out from where they needed to be. The pedestal that Dialga guarded...

And they couldn't pass.

The sounds of stone crashing became even louder, and the Riolu's tears refused to stop flowing. Everything he knew would die off slowly from the darkness.

The guild…

The town…

The world…

...Grovyle…

…Vulpix…

He'd failed.

They'd failed.

The planet's paralysis wouldn't be stopped. The world was set to fall into ruin once more.

"...But it looks like that won't be happening...we...couldn't pull through, despite...everything."

Grovyle had so much faith in them. The look on his face before he shoved Dusknoir through was filled with sadness, but also with a spark of hope and confidence in the two of them. He'd truly believed that they, together, could defeat Dialga once and for all. He was a great partner...and perhaps would have been a great friend, if only he'd known him for longer, or remember who he was at all. His noble sacrifice was inspiring, and it had pushed them onward, to prevent the paralysis of the world.

And it was completely wasted. For nothing.

"I'm so sorry…" he uttered, shutting his eyes once again, and the cracks enveloped the entire top floor of the tower. The shaking finally came to its apex, and the Riolu felt the entire world beginning fade away. From right under him...to everything past the Hidden Land. There would be no more glimmering bubbles on the beach. No more flowers blossoming. No more beautiful sunsets…

...No more moments with Vulpix.

"Vulpix...no..I couldn't protect you…or anyone else...I...I wish it didn't...h-have to be like this."

One final earth-shattering rumble shook him from his thoughts. This was it. Temporal Tower was truly collapsing. No miracle, no diligence, no bravery...nothing would save them now. They had failed. And now...everyone was going to pay for their mistakes. Within the hands of fate, it seemed as if they were crumpled aside like a torn piece of paper.

"...I...I...don't want to die either."

Explosions boomed around him as the ground violently shifted all around them. Silently, he gripped onto the Vulpix's fur even tighter, clenching his eyes shut as he buried his face into her ragged fur, accepting the fate about to consume them. At last, he felt the ground give way, the floor collapsing entirely below them. Before gravity took its toll, however, one pillar next to them collapsed first before the drop truly registered...

...and with a silent crash, the entire world faded into nothingness.

.

.

.

.

Somewhere in the distance, a shadow smiled.


End file.
